My Koenigsegg Gemera Order Update! Plus, Exclusive New Details… 12 Jan 2022
Welcome to Al Ain Class who are the official Koenigsegg distributor in Dubai!
It just so happens that they have the world’s one and only Gemera, which normally travels the world, but by pure coincidence it is in town today.
We have entered a brand-new year, so we got in touch with Koenigsegg to see if there any updates on the car. Low and behold, they sent us some exclusive info and updates that we are going to share with you today.
First, we need to do a brief overview for anyone who might not be familiar with what the Koenigsegg Gemera is – you can think of it as the world’s first hyper GT. What that consists of is a 1700 horsepower hyper car with four seats, which is a unique attribute of this car. The Gemera is faster than a Chiron with the practicality of a Ferrari FF, but it has even more practicality as there is no B-pillar as part of the construction of this car. It is one single carbon fibre tub, and the structural rigidity allows for there to be no B-pillar which means ingress and egress (which is automotive talk for getting in and out of the car) is super easy.
It is not often I would get into the back seat of a car first, but I wanted to demonstrate that you are going to be able to sit four people in the Gemera and do nought to sixty in under two seconds! Koenigsegg is estimating 1.8 seconds for this.
As I mentioned it is 1700 horsepower with a three-cylinder engine. I know you are thinking, hold on a minute, this doesn’t stack? Three cylinders – it will be the highest power to cylinder ratio engine in the world with three cylinders to 600 horsepower, and then the additional EV drive train contributes to the overall horsepower. That means you are going to be able to use the full traction of the four-wheel drive on this car. There are two electric motors on the rear end, one in the middle, and the TFG a.k.a. tiny friendly giant – that is the actual name they have given their engine!
The practicality of this car is not just about seating four people, it is about taking enough baggage for those people too. In the boot we have the tiny friendly giant – all three cylinders of it! They have also partnered with Akrapovic to make top mounted exhausts, so it will be interesting to see how these reverberate. More importantly, there is space for three bags in the rear boot alongside the TFG. The front boot also has room for a fourth bag. We tested the boot baggage capacity and we found it is genuinely practical to take four of you along in this diaphragm bending hyper car performance!
The drive train on this car is like a Regera as it has a KDD (Koenigsegg direct drive), also known as a single gear car. A Koenigsegg Regera is like a V8 powered electric car: it’s got all the theatre and emotion of a V8 twin turbo charge car but with that instantaneous torque fill from an EV, a wild experience!
Now that we have given the overview, it is time for the exclusive views…
Speaking to Koenigsegg, their exciting announcement is that they are bringing the development of all the EV architecture in-house! Koenigsegg are famous for developing everything in-house, but to bring the EV platform in is completely different. We are talking everything from the wiring to the batteries, the motors, the inverters, even the infotainment screens and the infotainment interface.
It is the first we have heard of this, and it is amazing to be able to share it with you, but I should also pre-face this car it is not even a pre-production proto-type – it is basically a sort of static mule. The quality, the interface, and everything shown will look better.
For example, they don’t have wing-mirrors, they have wing-cameras, and in final production they will be much cleaner and integrated into the inside of the car. Looking at the infotainment screen, you can select passenger seat or driver seat, and tilt backwards or forwards to adjust the seat position. This is all made by Koenigsegg’s own in-house developed software.
Speaking of software, check this out! There is a giro stabilizer within the instrument cluster on the steering wheel, which moves with the steering wheel. When you move it, it self-levels. When you are on hard cornering, it doesn’t matter where the screen is, it will always level itself out.
On the infotainment screen, we have the general Satnav vibe. Additionally, indicated by the symbol in the top right-hand corner of the screen, you can also have apple car play, as well as all the assistance systems and safety features too: land hold assist, adaptive cruise control, etc. The interface feels like something out of a video game. When you start reading about the car’s stats and facts, it is complex, but as soon as you start interacting with it, you can see they have done a brilliant job of making it simple. Both rear passengers also have the same infotainment screen as the one in the front. There is plenty of entertainment if the 1700 horsepower isn’t enough on its own!
Next up is not something I would usually talk about … cup holders. In this car they are quite exceptional. First, there’s eight of them, and I know you are wondering, if there are only four passengers, why would you want two each? Well, they’re heated and cooled, so if you have a hot drink, you can put it in the hot section, and you can keep another cool in the cool section. They heat and cool independently, and both passengers can have both, so times that by four. It is important to mention this is a proto-type vehicle, and Koenigsegg are telling me that these cup-holders will adapt in size. If you are in the mood for a bigger drink, or you live in a continent which gives you bigger drinks by default, they will be able to adapt to those.
When this car launched there was a lot of feedback saying the doors were massive, and they are. It is an incredible showcase and USP of the car. It is basically the aperture to the B-pillarless entrance but there were people asking, what happens if you’ve got a low ceiling in an underground car park? I spoke to Koenigsegg about that – they didn’t just make it and hope for the best! They did a lot of research into the average heights of underground carparks, and they assure me the doors will have plenty of clearance. As far as dramatic styling goes, the doors tower above me as I am standing next to them – such a unique feature!
There are only 300 Gemeras being made. I believe most of them have sold out, and I was lucky to get a build slot for one way back in March 2020 when they unveiled this car. We are looking to spec it, and Koenigsegg are telling me that the configurator will become available around May this year.
This is where it comes to you guys! Any of you who are good on photoshop, there are plenty of Gemera pictures online – go ahead, screen grab some, play with the colours and spec options. Put them on Instagram, tag me in it, all your feedback is welcome! This is going to be a channel car and I am very excited to share it with you!
Let’s run down some other cool attributes of this car, starting with future proofing – the engine on this is developed to run on future generation carbon neutral biofuels. That itself is pretty cool! We’ve got video cameras for wing-mirrors, we have a new generation of air-core carbon fibre wheels, but we also have the incredible panoramic sunroof. It is thin and sleek, but inside it lets the light cascade inside, opening up the whole interior. It also has the signature, centrally mounted, Koenigsegg windshield wiper.
On the hybrid unit you can drive up to 50km of range but combined total range with the internal combustion engine is one thousand km – for the hyper car segment, this is a game changer. All this tech always ends up filtering down in the long run. This is going to be an important car for the future.
Let’s talk about weights! In the world of Koenigsegg, this car is weird because it is around 1800kg, but in the world of power to weight ratio, 1700 horsepower with 1800kg is pretty insane! For a spot of context, and I know you guys enjoy a spot of context, an Audi RS6 weighs over two tonnes, so over 2000kg and an Audi RS6 has around 600 horsepower. In contrast, the Gemera weighs less at 1800kg and has 1700 horsepower – it is just going to be the most ludicrous experience for anyone inside that cockpit!
Of course, the Gemera has carbon ceramic breaks – granted, natural territory for cars like this today, however, Koenigsegg being Koenigsegg, the breaks are all made in-house. Imagine having your own stopping system for your own hyper car? It is pretty unique!
This car is just a world apart, an absolute game changer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1spjavTal8